The vigil is an optional preparation to elevation to Order of the Pelican. As a further option it may include at some appropriate and convenient time an invocation. The Crescent Principal Herald or another senior herald should give this.
I have come to address you, concerning certain aspects of the peerage you are about to enter. Many say it is an honor to be made a Master or Mistress of the Pelican, and it is surely that. But it is more than that: it is a heavy responsibility that you take upon yourself not in gladness, but with sobriety and sincerity.
The Order of the Pelican is unique among the three orders of peerage. Every Peer of the Realm, be he Knight, Laurel or Pelican, is expected to serve the kingdom and society. But the service expected of a Pelican is far greater than that expected of the other peers and greater still than that expected of the populace at large. To accept elevation to the Order of the Pelican is thus not to accept an honor, but to accept the burdens implied in your new status.
As a Peer of the Realm, you must endeavor to live, as you have until now, by the rules of courtoisie, of gentle behavior. This courtly ideal is your guide in your conduct with others: to deal with them justly and fairly, to be gracious and courteous to all, to be an example of worth to whom others can look.
Each Pelican has the responsibility of service, performing to the best of his ability and then -- and then -- to that point of performance where sacrifice is required. A Pelican must want to do good works, must be willing to do them, and will do them more frequently and more extensively than his friends who are not Pelicans.
To accept elevation to the Order of the Pelican is to accept these responsibilities. I pray you keep these words in your heart as you prepare for your new status.
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